Diaphragm construction



Aug. 8, 1939. s. LANDELL DIAPHRAGM CONSTRUCTION 3 *Sheets-Sheet 1 lJEIG. Y

INVENTOR. STANFORD LANDELL ATTORNEY.

Aug. 8, 1939. s. LANDELL DIAPHRAGM CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. l2, '1936 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. STANFORD LAN DELL ffm?! A TTORNEY.

lAug. 8, 1939. y s. LANDI-:LL 2,1.;68,995

DIAPHRAGM CONS'TRUCTION Filed Sept. l2, 1936 3 Sheets-Shel. 3

INVENTOR STANFORD LANDELL Patented Aug. 8, 1939 UNITED STATES DIAPHRAGMCONSTRUCTION Stanford Landell, Detroit, Mich., assigner to Edward G.Budd Manufabturing Company,

Philadelphia, Pa., a vania corporation of Pennsyl- Application September12, 1936, Serial No. 100,401

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in a diaphragm construction forrail cars and more particularly to one which is adapted for mountingbetween the adjacent ends of articulated cars.

Onev of the principal objects of the invention is to provide an outsidediaphragm which may be secured to the adjacent ends of rail car bodiesand which is adapted to be opened for inspection or adjustment ofportions of the car body normally covered by the diaphragm.

Another object of the invention is to provide a ilexible diaphragm whichis adapted to be secured to the adjacent ends of rail cars and which isfree to compensate for the relative movement therebetween, suchdiaphragm being relatively continuous at the top and having sideportions which may be opened for the temporary inspection or adjustmentof parts of the car body or connections between the car bodies.

Another and more specic object of the invention is to provide a slidinglatch and hinge construction for fastening a diaphragm to a car body,the hinge permitting a temporary opening of the diaphragm, and beingheld closed by the sliding latch, all parts` being secured to thediaphragm to prevent accidental loss.

A specic object of the invention is to provide a diaphragm forarticulated car bodies, portions of which are separately secured to theleaf' portions of a hinge, such leaf portions being adapted to be heldin relatively closed position by a detachable latch.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description of a preferred form of embodiment thereof asdescribed in connection with the attached drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the adjacent ends of articulated carbodies to which my diaphragm is secured.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 1 with the diaphragm in anopen position.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the locking mechanism of thediaphragm showing the mechanism in locked position.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of a part of a diaphragm showing the lockingmechanism.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section similar to Fig. 3 showing the lockingmechanism in unlocked position.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section and Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the hingeconstruction between the respective leaves of the diaphragm, Fig. 6being taken substantially along the line 6--6 of Fig. '7.

Figs. 8 and 9 are horizontal sections taken along the lines 8-8 and 9--9of Fig. 4.

Fig. 10 is a vertical section taken along the line III- I0 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a horizontal section through a portion of the diaphragm.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view with parts broken away of the diaphragmattachment to the car body, and

Fig. 13 is an end elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 12.

In one preferred form of embodiment of my invention, I provide adiaphragm which is adapted to be secured to the ends of rail car bodiesand although the illustrative example is of articulated car bodies, theinvention' is also adapted for nonarticulated cars if desired. Inparticular, the car bodies are generally represented by the charactersI2 and I4 and are mounted on a single truck I5, the diaphragm beingrepresented at I6. It is to be understood that the relative movementbetween the ends of the car bodies is such that the diaphragm is of aiiexible form either being resilient or provided with a bellowsarrangement.

The diaphragm is conveniently attached to the ends of the car bodies asmore particularly shown in Figs. 11, 12, and 13, the end of thediaphragm being provided with a suitable perforated plate Il having anangular cross section and being adapted to extend over the outwardlyprojecting pins I8 which extend from the car body. The pins I8 areprovided with slots through which locking members I9 such as cotter pinsmay extend to lock the diaphragm to the car body. The diaphragm ispreferably continuous between the cars and may be conveniently supportedat the top from a supporting rod 20 which is suitably swiveled from thecar roof as by bracket 2| to allow the necessary motion in accordancewith the movements of the car. Loops 22 from the bellows plates of thediaphragm I6 are carried by this supporting rod.

The diaphragm I 6 normally extends downward to a point approximately onthe level of the bottom of the car body and with articulated cars, it isfrequently necessary to make inspections of the mechanical andelectrical equipment under the diaphragm. To facilitate suchinspections, the diaphragm is provided with opening leaf portionsbetween certain parts or folds of the diaphragm. As shown in Fig. 11,the bellows portions are normally secured by a U shaped clamp 23. Thecenter fold, however, is preferably secured to a pair of flange plates25 and 26 and such plates extend upwardly to a pair of pintles Ell whichserve as a hinge so that as shown in Fig. 2, the folds of the diaphragmmay be opened to such an extent that the inspector or mechanic may enterunder the diaphragm. Ordinarily, it is sufficient to hinge the folds ofthe diaphragm from a point mid-way of the top and approximately at theheight of the vertical plane such as shown in Fig. 4 as this gives theoperator adequate room.

The rapid locking and unlocking of the flange plates 25 and 26 isconveniently accomplished by a sliding latch which, as shown in Fig. 3,includes a plurality of projecting studs 3E which extend throughsuitable openings in the folds of the diaphragm, such studs beinganchored to one of the flange plates 26 as by a suitable nut, the otherend of studs 3S having an enlarged head with which slideable lockingplate 32 cooperates. Ihe plate 32' is anchored to flange 25 byrelatively smaller studs 315, the plate having suitable slots 38 for thenecessary relative movement. In addition, slideable plate 32 hasenlarged slots 42 which are of a keystone shape with the larger portionpermitting free insertion of the locking studs and with the smallerportion of slot 42 engaging under the head to hold the respective angemembers 25 and 26 together. Slideable plate 32 is also convenientlyprovided with a handle 4d for the necessary relative movement to lockthe diaphragm closed and it is held in its lool-:ed position by aretainer pin l5 held in position by a resilient spring 4l', which hasoperating loop i8 to release it.

If desired, the end leaf or fold of the diaphragm could be similarlyhinged and detachably locked to the end of the car body, or modifiedforms of latching mechanism may be used either at the central or endportions of the diaphragm. If complete separation is required as `forexample between non-articulated cars the latching mechanism may beextended entirely around the periphery of the car diaphragm so that therespective portions of the car bodies may be separated one from theother. It will be understood that I have shown and described a preferredform of embodiment of the invention and that other modifications may bemade thereto and that I, therefore, desire a broad interpretation of theinvention within the scope and spirit of the description herein and ofthe claims appended hereinafter.

What I claim is:

1. In a railway train, a pair of adjoining coupled cars, an outerdiaphragm closing the space between the cars at sides and top, portionsof a side wall of said diaphragm being relatively partable to provide anopening through which ready access to the space between the cars can behad while the cars are coupled, the provision for the relativelypartable side wall including duplex metal facings for parts of thediaphragm, said parts being hinged overhead to permit movement away froma transverse plane of symmetry thereof, and readily detachable means forsimultaneously fastening said duplex facings together substantiallythroughout their length.

2. In combination, two adjoining coupled cars and a unitary diaphragmclosing the space between the adjacent ends of said cars at sides andtop, means to permanently secure the diaphragm directly to fixed partsof each of the cars, the diaphragm being formed at a side thereof with avertical slit which permits parting of the portions of the diaphragm onopposite sides of the slit to provide an opening affording lateralaccess to the space between the car ends, and quickly detachable meansexten-:ling substantially throughout the length of the slit, said meansbeing operable for simultaneously fastening together or simultaneouslyreleasing the portions of the diaphragm on opposite sides of said slit.

3. An inverted U-shape diaphragm having substantially the configurationof the outside sides and top of a rail car body, the outer edges of saiddiaphragm having means for substantially fixed attachment thereof to theends of adjacent car bodies, the intermediate portion of the diaphragmbetween its outer edges being entirely closed at the top between carbodies and having the sides thereof forming a closure for the spacebetween the end walls of the adjacent car bodies, parts of said sidesbeing reinforced and constituting the edges of a vertical slit throughwhich entry may be had for inspection and repair of car parts under thediaphragm when said -edges are moved apart, means to hold said parts ofsaid sides in contact with each other including members engaging saidreinforced slit edges and means to simultaneously release all of saidmembers for opening the slit.

STANFORD LANDELL.

